When Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee presented Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu with the key to the city at Thursday’s hometown celebration for the superstar athlete, she reminded the audience: “She trained right here in Oakland, at the Oakland Ice Center. Her father and family work here in Chinatown, and they’re here today.”
As Liu took the stage, dressed in a simple black sweater and gray pants, she looked out over the crowd and said, “This is crazy!” She then said: “I love Oakland. I’ve been here all my life. I literally walked here every day to get to the city center for lunch. I could not be more proud to represent Oakland on the big stage, the Olympics. I want to thank you all for the love and support.”
The rally for Liu got underway at noon in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza, with Bay Area star athletes, from Steph Curry to Kristi Yamaguchi, along with thousands of proud East Bay residents and fans of figure skating, joining in the celebration. The plaza looked packed with all of the 7,000 people who snapped up tickets for the free event.
Congresswoman Lateefah Simon was among the first of the speakers, declaring that Liu “is an American hero, taking that gold from Milan all the way back to Broadway here.”
During a press conference ahead of being honored by her hometown of Oakland Thursday, Alysa Liu pondered the unique level of global fame she’s achieved since winning the gold medal in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
Back home in Oakland, the 20-year-old sports phenom also had to deal with being recognized when she goes out, and just because of her signature striped gold and black hair. “Every time I’m out, someone recognizes me, so my daily routine is a little bit different, but most people have been really respectful, so I’ve been grateful for that,” Liu said.
“I’ve beed trying to cover my hair, but people know me by my face, too, and that’s weird!” she said, laughing. “I’m like, ‘You’re only supposed to know me by my hair!’”
Ahead of the press conference, Mayor Barbara Lee declared that she, too, has become “a fan girl” of the young athlete who famously chose to step away from her sport for two years before returning to compete with a healthier outlook. Last month, Liu dazzled the world with her gorgeous, joy-filled free skate at the Olympics, the embodiment of a performance that Lee said was “fearless, focused and fully herself.”
Olympic figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall before a celebratory rally in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Ahead of the rally, Liu said she didn’t want to know about any of the presenters, saying “I’m in for a lot of surprises.” She responded to questions about being back home in the East Bay and what it meant to grow up in Richmond and Oakland, raised by her attorney father. “I like to think my environment did shape me, because this is such a great place,” she said. “I’m lucky to be here today.”
Liu also offered a message to young people who see her as a role model and want to follow in her footsteps: “It will take a lot of grit, determination and willpower,” Liu said. “But my generation already has a lot of willpower, so I don’t think I need to give them advice. They already have it.”
During the program, the athlete also was expected to receive congratulations from a slate of local luminaries, including video messages from Curry, Draymond Green and Coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors and from 1988 Olympic figure skating gold medalist Brian Boitano. Other Bay Area predecessors in winning Olympic gold medals — Yamaguchi in figure skating in 1992 and Andre Ward in light-heavyweight boxing in 2004 — will appear to honor Liu in person.
Tyler McMahon and his friend Alison Ramirez of San Francisco hold up collages in honor of Alysa Liu before the start of Alicia Liu’s celebration rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Among the other guests who may surprise Liu is Grammy-winning R&B singer Kehlani, an alumna of the Oakland School of the Arts, who will close the celebration with a special hometown performance. Current Oakland School for the Arts student Abayomi Lewis, an “American Idol” finalist, welcomed Liu and everyone else to the ceremony with a powerful vocal solo of “MacArthur Park,” the Donna Summer song that the skater chose for her gold-medal-winning free skate.
During her four-minute routine to Summers’ classic, disco-era single, Liu wore a shimmering gold outfit and her gold and black hair, as she cleanly landed seven triple jumps, helping her to accomplish one of the most improbable comebacks in Olympic figure skating history. She left the sport in 2022 because the single-minded focus on training had made it impossible for her to just enjoy life as a teenager. She returned to competition in 2024 and, last month, became the first U.S. woman in 20 years to bring home an individual medal for singles figure skating.
Olympic figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu speaks during a press conference at Oakland City Hall before a celebratory rally in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Among those happy that Liu has become a role model for young people is Jackie Downing, an Alameda resident who arrived more than two hours early for the rally. “She is marching to the beat of her own drummer, and just seems like a force for positivity and spreading joy,” Downing said. “She’s a great representative of Oakland and an inspiration for the Bay Area.”
The program also included an entertainment lineup that celebrates the Bay Area’s diverse culture, including the Fremont High School Drumline and artists from TURFInc, who will perform the Bay Area’s signature style of hip-hop street dancing. The U.S. Shaolin Kung Fu traditional dragon dancers honored Liu’s Chinese heritage; her father, Arthur Liu, was a Chinese dissident who came to America following that government’s crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters.
Liu began skating at age 5 when her father, a fan of Michelle Kwan, brought her to the Oakland ice centre. In 2019, the then-13-year-old was crowned America’s new ice queen when she became the youngest person to ever win the U.S. figure skating championships. After competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, placing seventh, and at the 2022 World Championships, winning bronze, she announced her retirement from skating, saying she had completed all her goals for the sport. But two years later, she returned to competition.
Since winning the ultimate prize in her sport, Liu has taken time to enjoy being back in the Bay Area, dropping by a favorite Italian restaurant, Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, where she enjoyed a special dessert of flourless chocolate cake. There have been other treats bestowed upon her: Fentons Creamery in Oakland created a new ice cream flavor in her honor, Alysa’s Gold, with golden Oreos folded into caramel ice cream with a caramel swirl; and Children’s Fairyland has temporarily rebranded itself “Children’s FairyLiu.”
While Liu has decided to withdraw from the world championships later this month in Prague, she will give Bay Area fans the opportunity to see her hit the ice on May 17. She joins fellow American stars Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito as headliners for the annual Stars on Ice, which takes place at SAP Center.
Harriet Shange-Watkins, 11, and her mother, Savannah Shange of Oakland, have their picture taken with Golden State Valkyries mascot Violet before the start of Alicia Liu’s celebration rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, March 12, 2026. The mother and daughter made the wigs in honor of Olympian gold medallist Alysa Liu. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)